1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a multi-axis robot provided with a control system.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
It is known that multi-axis robots can be controlled by supplying their electric motors with control signals generated from a calculation and processing unit in which the path of the robot is determined. For the path computation to be effective, to have the abovementioned unit work in closed loop mode, by using feedback signals originating from position sensors carried by the arm of the robot, is known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,847. In the known robots, a large number of cables must be installed between the arm and its control unit, which leads to long connection and wiring times and not inconsiderable risks of error resulting in complex and costly debugging operations.
The use of an optical fiber bus to connect a digital controller to amplifiers each linked to an encoder by a conventional line is known from EP-A-0 777 167. These links between the amplifiers and the coders make the job of installing these devices lengthy and complicated.
Moreover, JP-A-10 178 437 provides for encoders to be linked by a bus to an external computer, independently of the power part of the installation.
It is these drawbacks that the invention seeks in particular to remedy by proposing a novel architecture for a robot provided with a control system which simplifies the production of the controller, on the one hand, and of the arm, on the other hand, and the installation of this robot in its place of use. The invention also seeks to improve the quality and speed of transfer of the control and feedback signals.